Bruce Ferree, CFS, Chair
Insight Food Safety Consulting

Having received a B.Sc. from Colorado State University, Bruce embarked on a career in product quality and food safety management. He has worked in further processed meats and poultry, cheese making, milk processing (ESL and aseptic), aseptic processing and packaging and sugar extraction operations. In addition, Bruce spent 4 years working as a consultant, trainer and auditor helping numerous others in manufacturing, QSR’s and laboratories to understand food safety and quality management. Bruce retired in early 2018 after 35 years managing quality and food safety programs and is now owner of Insight Food Safety Consulting. In addition to IFT, Bruce is a member of IAFP and a senior member of ASQ. He is a Certified Food Scientist, a Certified Quality Auditor and a Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor. Now living in Sutter Creek, California, his career in food science and food safety has taken him to all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and DC, as well as to over 30 countries.

Moira McGrath, Past Chair
Opus International

Moira McGrath is President and Founder of OPUS International, Inc. Following graduation from Cornell University with a degree in Hotel Administration, Moira focused her early career on hotel and restaurant operations and management.

She started her own firm in 1993, where she and her staff at OPUS specialize in placing scientists in R&D and Quality Assurance positions with food and food ingredient manufacturers. Along with managing her company, Moira is very involved in related volunteer opportunities, particularly with IFT. She has served on the IFT Board of Directors and chaired numerous other committees. Moira has served on several university Advisory Councils for their Food Science departments. Among them are Cornell University, UC Davis, Virginia Tech, and University of Florida.

Joseph Petho, CFS, Vice Chair
Campbell’s

Joseph Petho is a Senior Research Scientist at Campbell’s. Recently, he relocated to Norwalk, CT to be a cookie & cracker scientist. In his role at Campbell’s he is developing new cookies & crackers along with looking for ways to improve existing products. Throughout his 10 plus years in the food industry he has developed and launched products in the bakery and dairy food areas. He has developed expertise in low water activity fillings. He has worked for both consumer packaged goods (CPG) and ingredient manufacturing companies. This gives Joseph valuable insight into the commercialization process in the food industry.

Anton Angelich, CFS, Member
Retired, Virginia Dare

Anton is recently retired, having served as Group Vice President, Marketing at Virginia Dare. He was responsible for domestic flavor marketing and business development, as well as marketing services and communications. Virginia Dare is a New York based international flavor company that develops, manufactures and supplies liquid and dry flavors for the Beverage, Dairy, Sweet Goods, Health and Wellness, Pharmaceutical and Oral Care industries.

Anton was previously with Symrise, Cultor Food Science and Givaudan flavor companies, with commercial responsibility for business and product development and marketing.

Prior to being in the flavor industry, Anton was part of the Nestle organization for a total of eighteen years. He held various positions in marketing: Confectionery brand management; New Products Director (including product development coordination, corporate sensory, brand public relations, the Nestle Test Kitchens, and the product concept lab); and as a part of the Chambourcy yogurt/RTE dessert business team. He spent ten years in R & D at Nestle in various locations working in process and product development.

Kanika Bhargava, PhD, CFS, Member
University of Central Oklahoma

Dr. Bhargava is a Certified Food Scientist (CFS) and works as an Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor for Food Science and Nutrition program at University of Central Oklahoma. Her research focusses on food preservation technologies and food product development. She has over 15 years of experience in the food science and is a lifetime member of Phi Tau Sigma.

She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Food Science and Technology from Delhi and Guru Nanak Dev University in India and a Ph.D. in Food Science and Nutrition with a specialization in Microbial Food Safety from the Wayne State University.

Kanika joined IFT in 2009 as a student member and became a professional member in 2013. She has been actively involved in the IFT-Oklahoma section, and served as a Chair and Board of Director.

Julia Carey, Member
HHI Search

Julia Carey has worked within the food industry for over 30 years, most recently with HHI Search as a recruiter for executive and technical placements across the food, ingredient and beverage industries. Prior to that she was an R&D Director within Kraft and Nabisco. Julia began her career working on New Product Innovation within the Frito Lay division of PepsiCo.

She holds a BS in Nutrition & Chemistry from Illinois State University and a MS in Food Science from the University of Illinois. She has been a local and national member of IFT throughout her career.

Janet Collins, Member
Dupont Corporate Regulatory Affairs

Janet’s work at Dupont Regulatory Affairs is in the areas of global biotechnology regulatory advocacy and policy development. Her areas of interest and expertise include food biotechnology, food labeling, global food standards setting, and the food science and nutrition intersection.

She previously held the role of Director of Regulatory at Monsanto and Solae. Janet is also Past President of IFT and Past President of Phi Tau Sigma Honor Society.

Bertrand Emond, Member
Campden BRI

Bertrand is Membership Ambassador & Professional Development and Culture Excellence Lead at Campden BRI, the world’s largest independent provider of practical scientific, technical, regulatory, training and information support to the food, drink and allied industries.

Campden BRI currently serves over 3000 member companies, ranging from large international businesses to small individual operations, in 86 countries worldwide. Founded in 1919, it now offers a wide range of analysis and testing services as well as operational support underpinned by a vigorous programme of research and innovation and disseminated through extensive knowledge management activities – including training and publishing leading industry guidance. Many of its activities are independently accredited.

Bertrand is President of the IFT British Section, an IFST Fellow and holds a Master of Food Science & Technology and a Master of Business Administration. For the last 35 years, Bertrand has been helping companies of all sizes from all parts of the agri-food chain to survive and grow. He has taken part in a number of local, regional, national and international initiatives aiming to support businesses with respect to Quality, Safety, Efficiency and Innovation, including: GFSI Stakeholder - Member of the Food Safety Culture Technical Working Group 2016-18, Services Technical Working Group 2019-20 and Auditor Training and Professional Development Working Group (2020-2021); BSI PAS 320 “ A practical guide to a culture of food safety” Steering Committee member (2020-2023); University of Nottingham UK Competencies for Food Graduate Careers Project Stakeholder; IAFP Silver Sustaining Member and IAFP Food Safety Education and Food Safety Culture PDG member; IAFP Students Mentor; Co-organizer of the Ecotrophelia UK eco-innovation students competition.

He is passionate about supporting the industry in the areas of skills, knowledge, training, learning and development, competency, and achieving culture excellence through behavior change. He won the 2020 BRCGS CEO Europe Award recognizing his commitment and contribution to food safety and the Heinz Award for Excellence for Leadership in Collaborative CPD for the Industry.

Aliyar Fouladkhah, PhD, MPH, CFS, Member
Tennessee State University

Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah is a graduate of the Food Science and Human Nutrition Master’s and Food Microbiology Doctoral programs of Colorado State University (CSU). He holds a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics and Data Analysis from CSU’s Statistics Department and completed his training in the Public Health Department of Yale University in the Advanced Professional MPH program (AP MPH), tracked in Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology, a Graduate Certification in Food and Drug Regulatory Affairs, and a Certificate in Climate Change and Human Health. He has been a member of an authors’ team of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, conference proceedings, newsletters, and popular-press articles. He is currently serving as the faculty director of Public Health Microbiology laboratory in Nashville, where his program has been extramurally funded by federal and private industry agencies and provided education opportunities for undergraduate, MS, Ph.D., and post-doctoral students/fellows. He has served as president of Rocky Mountain (Colorado) and Volunteer (Tennessee) sections of IFT and as exam item writer and reviewer for both certified food scientists and certified in public health national examinations and as instructor of public health workshops and outreach events in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and South Africa. He is currently serving as the Co-Chair of Health and Medical Sciences division of Tennessee Academy of Science.

See also “Getting to know Aliyar Fouladkhah” at IFT announces election results; IFT names Achievement Award winners - IFT.org (from 2018)

Tom McLean, CFS, Member
Retired, FDA

Early 70’s Oregon State University student: Summers spent in fruit processing, sanitation, and Quality Control.  Graduated with BS in Microbiology and Food Science.  Employed as Quality Assurance and other duties, in seafood industry.  Product/process developer and Operations Manager for then novel LACF flexible packaging.  Self-employed as International Seafood Commodity Sales and Trader.  Investor in premium winery.  Last career endeavor and now retired from Federal Regulatory Investigator for Domestic and International food processors.

Member of IFT since late 70’s, Puget Sound Section.  Held positions for Employment referral, Chair Elect/Chair/Past Chair and part of IFT Section that formed and runs local Endowment fund.  Member of other regional sections; Lewis & Clark (closed), Oregon, and British Columbia.  Part of inaugural Certified Food Scientist cadre.

Returned to serve Puget Sound-IFT investment committee and IFSCC upon retirement.

Dick Metivier, MS, MBA, CFS, Member
Frito Lay/PepsiCo

Dick Metivier is a Senior Principal Scientist at Frito Lay R&D. He is currently working on the evaluation of alternative thermal process technologies. Dick has been awarded the PepsiCo Academy of Science, Chairman, and Transform for Growth awards, as well as the Frito-Lay Creativity, Quality, Productivity, and Team Work awards. He won the IFT Outstanding Volunteer Award twice. Initially starting as a chemical engineer, Dick earned a BS and MS in Food Science from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA in Finance from Purdue.

On the national Level, Dick has served IFT on the Higher Education, Student Product Development Competition, and a multitude of award and review committees. For the Longhorn section of IFT, he has held every position, including serving twice as Chair and Treasurer.